Deliberative Democracy

Peter Martin

At a time when many people are losing faith in the ability of our current political system and parties to deliver meaningful change, there is a global surge of interest in ‘deliberative democracy’. Examples of this are ‘citizen juries’ and ‘citizen assemblies’ in which, like our legal juries, people are selected by lottery to participate. They join groups deliberating on important social issues and make recommendations for new policy. It is robust, fair and transparent, and is not directed by political parties or lobbyists.

Citizen Assemblies for SA (CAfSA) is a new SA-based group determined to raise understanding of the huge potential of this approach to rebuild public faith in government. For a start we are organising a national conference in Adelaide on June 14-15 this year. We are also launching a short regular news bulletin leading up to the conference. And we are designing a website, the address for which will be made available by email as soon as the site is completed.

We hope we can interest you enough in this initiative to join the mailing list we are trying to build. And we hope you will remain engaged with us as we explore this exciting new pathway for real and equitable democracy. The time is certainly right for new thinking and new practice in how public policy is made and how priorities are set.

Here are two sites you might visit to get a sense of what’s going on in this space:
Internat – https://www.demnext.org/
Aust – https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/
Please contact Peter Martin if you are interested in this initiative, and ask to be placed on the email mailing list. Peter is Co-chair of CAfSA, and can be contacted via email – [email protected]